Help post events on saranaclake.com

March 20, 2013

This is a letter to all the great event organizers in the Saranac Lake area. First of all, thank you for all your time and efforts. We often have so much going on here that it's hard to decide what to do. Last weekend was the Colby Classic fishing derby, and on Saturday, March 9, there was live music going on at five different venues in Saranac Lake.

The Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce could really do a lot to help promote events like this - but we have to know about them! The chamber has a state-of-the-art website that gets 8,000 to 12,000 unique visitors every month, and a lot of them go directly to our events page. We send out email bulletins every week with a list of events going on. Our Visitors Center gets plenty of walk-in visitors and phone calls about things to do in our community.

Right now people are making plans for summer vacations. They use the Internet and do their homework, checking places they want to visit to see what is going on. Where do most visitors check first? A chamber of commerce or visitors center. What happens if you do an Internet search for "Saranac Lake events?" The first place you are directed is the chamber website: www.saranaclake.com.

We need you to enter the dates and information about upcoming events as far in advance as possible on our calendar. Enter this year's event, and then jump ahead and enter a 2014 date as well! If you have your own websites, make sure they are updated with current information about this year's event, no matter how far away it is. And as soon as your event happens, change your website to the 2014 dates!

It's really easy to post your own events on our calendar. Go to www.saranaclake.com/events, and on the right side of the page there is a place to search for events and to "Add Your Event." Select that, and follow the directions. You will get a confirmation email right away that has a link you need to click on. Then it sometimes takes a day or two for your event to actually show up on the website. If it doesn't work for you, call 518-891-1990 or come in to the office for some help.

Chamber staff cannot be expected to know everything about every event going on. But we can look at what's been posted on our calendar and then put our effort into helping publicize and promote those events. We cannot promote what we don't know about. Your chamber is here to serve our community, and one of the benefits we can provide to our members is to try and attract people to Saranac Lake. Tell us what you are doing, what events are going on, and we will let people know about them.

Sandra Hildreth

Adirondack Artists' Guild

Board of Directors, Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce

Saranac Lake

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(Editor's note: Not to take anything away from the events calendar on www.saranaclake.com, but it's worth mentioning that the Enterprise's Tri-Lakes Calendar is full of events from throughout the area. It's on our website and printed on page 5 Monday through Friday, page B2 Saturday. You can submit events by email to calendar@adirondackdailyenterprise.com, through our website, in person, by fax or by mail.)